When Joe Dove took his elephants out on the
He made each one hold fast with his
To the tail of the elephant walking in
To stop them from doing a bunk.
There were fifteen in all, so 'twere rather a
To get them linked up in a row,
But once he had fixed 'em Joe knew they'd hold on,
For an elephant never lets go.
The pace it was set by the big 'uns in front,'Twas surprising how fast they could stride,
And poor little Aggie, the one at the back…Had to run till she very near died.
They were walking one Sunday from Blackpool to Crewe,
They'd started at break of the day,
Joe followed behind with a bagful of
In case they got hungry on t'way.
They travelled along at a rattling good
Over moorland and valley and plain,
And poor little Aggie the one at the
Her trunk fairly creaked with the strain.
They came to a place where the railway crossed road,
An ungated crossing it were,
And they wasn't to know as the express was
At the moment that they landed there.
They was half way across when Joe saw the express-It came tearing along up the track-He tried hard to stop, but it wasn't much good,
For an elephant never turns back.
He saw if he didn't do something at
The train looked like spoiling his troupe,
So he ran on ahead and he waggled tho
To show them they'd best hurry up When they caught sight of buns they all started to run,
And they soon got across at this gait,
Except poor little Aggie-the one at the back,
She were one second too late.
The express came dashing along at full speed,
And caught her end on, fair and
She bounced off the buffers, turned head over heels,
And lay with her legs in the air.
Joe thought she were dead when he saw her lyin' there,
With the back of her head on the
He knelt by her side, put his ear to her chest,
And told her to say " ninety-nine." She waggled her tail and she twiggled her trunk ;
To show him as she were alive;
She hadn't the strength for to say "ninety-nine,"She just managed a weak "eighty-five." When driver of th' engine got down from his
Joe said "Here's a nice howdedo,
To see fifteen elephants ruined for
By a clumsy great driver like you." Said the driver, "There's no need to mak' all this fuss,
There's only one hit as I've seen."Joe said, "Aye, that's right, but they held on so
You've pulled back end off t' other fourteen." Joe still walks around with his elephant troupe,
He got them patched up at the vet's,
But Aggie won't walk at the back any more,'Cos an elephant never forgets.
